all the Signs and Tokens which God had given to Mankind to discover his Power thereby in the Accomplishment of this Mystery are come to pass But not only is it just and reasonable that from the Consideration of the Incarnation of Christ Glory should be given to God but also this effect hath actually been produced and greater Glory hath thence ensued than from all other Causes whatsoever I will not insist upon the Praise which the ancient Patriarchs Prophets and good Men gave to God when they foresaw this Incarnation altho' it all ought to be resolved into this Cause I will only alledge the increase of Divine Glory subsequent to the Birth of Christ And do that by comparing the State of the World at that time with that which followed to it Before this Sun of Righteousness arose an universal darkness had overspread the face of the Earth The worship of Idols and Devils had in every place prevailed The true God so far from being honoured that he was not so much as known No Praises Honour or Glory given to him but his Laws violated without Remorse his Authority not acknowledged and his Benefits wholly forgot Indeed the small Country of Judea is to be excepted altho' that was now possessed by a Pagan Government and was shortly to be wholly destroyed by them And even of this small part of Mankind an inconsiderable Proportion maintained their Obedience to God entire Their Teachers had made void the Commandments of God by their Traditions the most Sacred Offices of their Religion were slighted and publickly set to Sale and what remained of true Piety just then expiring Consider now the State of the World in after times We find this Darkness dispelled this impiety removed Armies of Saints Martyrs and devout Persons who should for ever continue to sing that Hymn to God which the Host of Heaven began upon this day The knowledge of the true God was introduced in all parts of the World vast numbers of Persons professing the Worship of him converted in a few Years their number daily increased until after three hundred Years the whole civilized World did in a manner embrace the Christian Faith and joyn in offering up Praise to God in magnifying his glorious Attributes in confessing his Authority in adoring his Majesty in obeying his Laws if not in reality yet at least in Profession These blessed Times indeed were not for ever to continue it was foretold That in the latter times Men and that the greatest number should depart from the true Faith walking after their own Lusts. And the effect of this Prophesie the Church hath now for many Ages lamented Yet after all the publick Worship of the true God is still kept up if not in the greater yet in the more understanding part of the World vast numbers of devout Persons yet remain continual Praise is daily offered up to God and all this is owing to the happy Incarnation of our Lord as upon this day And to acknowledge this and give Glory to God for it we are this day met together and so are all other true Members of the Catholick Church in their several places The second Branch of the Angelick Hymn in the Text is Peace on Earth By Peace according to the usual Expression of the Jews we may well understand all manner of Happiness of which Mankind is capable to be inferred yet in considering it I shall confine my self to the strict Acception of it This day then were signally accomplished the ancient Prophesies concerning the peaceable Times of the Messias Now was God reconciled to Mankind and those Reasons founded upon which Men should for ever be reconciled one to another This was the greatest Benefit which Men could possibly receive to be restored to the favour of their Creator and the Love of one another God could receive no other from the Incarnation of his Son but the increase of Glory and Man no greater than the Gift of Peace justly therefore after Glory to God in the highest the Angels subjoyn Peace on Earth Peace in the first Sense as it is Reconciliation to God was foretold by Isaias of the times of the Messias LVII 19. And that to be granted to all Men who should accept the Condition of it Peace Peace to him that is far off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal them This Reconciliation was actually begun in the Incarnation of our Lord and finally compleated by his Preaching and Suffering here on Earth upon which Account he is called the Prince of Peace And we are said Rom. V. 1. To have Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Before Men had by their Sins proclaimed themselves Enemies to God and more eminently by putting themselves under the Dominion of the grand Enemy of God the Devil and the protection of evil Spirits which was notoriously done among the Heathens Christ by taking our Flesh upon him and doing and suffering what afterwards he did brought a great part of Mankind to the acknowledgment and subjection of the true God and having done so offering up his Life as a Ransom for their Sins obtained of his Father to be reconciled to them In the Second Sense Peace upon Earth signifieth the mutual Peace of Men. This also was foretold by the Prophets concerning the times of the Messias particularly by Isaiah in XI and LX. Chapters under the Representation of that peaceable Temper which should then be visible even in Beasts of Prey It cannot be denied that the Principles of Christianity do strangely incline Men to the Observation of this excellent temper of Mind that if the Precepts of our Lord were indeed universally regarded Hatred Malice and Revenge would necessarily vanish out of the World And if Experience doth not justifie this it is to be ascribed to the Perverseness of Men not to the defect of the Christian Laws Our Lord reconciled all Men to God yet so as that he left several Conditions to be performed by Man in order to it which if he neglects he will receive no benefit by the Incarnation of Christ and be punished as an Enemy of God In like manner Christ hath settled Peace on Earth yet not forced the Will of Men to observe it but hath given such Rules and Precepts as if observed cannot but produce an universal Peace And so the ancient Prophesies are to be understood not of the effect but of the Tendency of the Religion of the Messias altho' it cannot be denied that in a great measure they actually were accomplished and to have taken place wherever the true Spirit of Christianity was retained Our Lord was born in the most warlike Empire that ever the World saw which in more than seven hundred Years had enjoyed no more than two years Peace Yet at the time of his Birth the Wisdom of God directed that an universal Peace should then obtain as well to typifie the Peaceableness of his Doctrine and Gospel as to facilitate
limits of a just Punishment and the excess of that Punishment being a real Injury Entitles the other to a fresh Revenge I might therefore insist upon the reasonableness of the Divine Prohibition of revenge to Man from the advantage which it brings to the Preservation of the Peace and Order of the World were it not an Argument too inconsiderable to be employed in Conjunction with the former To return therefore to the former Consideration since the Justice of all Punishment consists in the Parity of it to the guilt of the Crime committed and vehemence of Passion to which humane Nature is incident suffers not Men to observe that Parity in execution of Revenge and not to observe it is a sin against God as in many other Respects so in this also that it is a Violation of Justice we ought to esteem it a singular Benefit that God hath taken the Execution of revenge into his own hands and not left the Management of it to our Discretion least it should unavoidably expose us to the Danger of sin either in carrying it beyond its just Bounds or in executing it for other Reasons than the Love of Justice or Hatred of sin And to this Consideration the Apostle seems to have had a peculiar regard when he citeth that passage of the Old Testament Vengeance is mine c. which in the place referred to Deut. XXXII 35. plainly relates to this Matter For there God having denounced to the Jews the Punishments he would inflict on them in Case of their Apostacy from him telleth them among other things that he would deliver them into the hands of their Enemies into the power of strange Nations who should tyrannize over them and mightily oppress them and therein become the Executioners of those Punishments which he designed to their sins Not that thereby their Tyranny and Oppression should become the less unlawful because subservient to the secret purposes of God to which they in oppressing the Jews had no regard but only to the satisfaction of their Hatred and other Passions And therefore this Oppression so far exceeding the Rules of Justice God in the 35th Verse aforecited threatens that he will severely revenge upon them And accordingly in XXV of Ezekiel 12th God foretels the utmost Execution of his Wrath upon Edom for taking a too severe Revenge of the People of Israel altho' himself had delivered them into their hands to be plagued by them So that if no other Argument disswaded us from the prosecution of Revenge if a moderate Revenge were even permitted by God yet the Difficulty of observing moderation in it and the danger of incurring sin thereby should deterr us from it Thus Men are made unfit to be entrusted with the execution of Revenge for that they know not certainly the just Proportion of the supposed Crime and the Punishment due to it and altho' they were secured of it yet would rather consult the direction of their own Passions than the Rules of Justice Yet the Cause of revenge is still maintained in the World and no wonder when it is supported by so many Passions as Envy Hatred Malice and the like These indeed to minds of more happy Education and nobler Thoughts naturally appear odious and therefore such as pretend to a better Blood and greater Minds found their Practice of revenge upon a Principle of Honour to which they Fancy all other Considerations ought to yield entertaining a vain Perswasion that this Honour cannot consist with the patient induring of Injuries and that every Affront unrevenged draws upon them the imputation of Cowardize An Opinion built upon false Notions of Honour and Valour and which far from being an Argument of true Greatness of Mind manifests a real weakness in it For wherein is the Honour of Man to be placed but in such Perfections as may improve his Faculties adorn his Nature and promote his Happiness If upon these Principles he raiseth the favourable esteem of other Men his Honour is then truly founded If for other Reasons which are indeed no Perfections he fancieth himself to be admired he betrays the weakness of his Judgment in that he prides himself in the Admiration of others no less injudicious Such is when Esteem is founded upon Rashness or a precipitate Boldness upon Impatience of bearing the least Indignity and preferring this Resolution to all Considerations If this be a real Honour then such a passionate determination must be indeed a perfection of Nature an improvement of Reason but if that be too gross to affirm the pretence of Honour must be laid aside Nor yet can any Argument of Valour or Greatness of Mind be drawn from such a Conduct Valour indeed is such a constant Resolution of Mind as cannot be moved or over-turned by any external Accident cannot be interrupted by Fears and Passions and a Mind truly great is placed above all such mean Resentments and rather scorns than fears the Attempts of other Men. How then can he be said to make good this Character whom an Injury shall torment and disquiet whose Thoughts may be ruffled and his Passions raised at the pleasure of any other who by manifesting so great a Concern in little matters betrays the Consciousness of his own unworthiness and imperfection of the want of real Worth and Happiness which can be so far impaired by Trifles and petty Injuries that without Revenge it cannot be restored In Truth there is no greater Indication of an abject and mean Spirit of Cowardize and Imperfection of mind than that impatience that fear and jealousie which always attends Revenge thus founded upon mistaken Honour But I do injury to the Cause I handle when I seek to recommend the Laws of God concerning Revenge by an Argument so far inferior to the weight of Divine Authority To Christians and in this place I presume my Speech doth reach no other it ought to be a sufficient Confutation of the pretence of Honour in Revenge that our Lord hath forbidden the practice of it For since his Religion tends to advance the Perfection of humane Nature and to restore right Notions of all Moral Actions it is impossible that true Honour or Valour should promote the exercise of Revenge which he hath forbidden The pretence of Honour in the Execution of Revenge is vain indeed yet not so Criminal as that other ordinary pretence of satisfying Justice therein When Men prosecute their Revenge against others under pretence of Zeal for Justice and least the guilt of any sin should escape unpunished This those are wont to alledge in defence of their Revenge whose Revenge is founded upon a Principle of Malice not of mistaken Honour To Confess openly that they take Revenge because they hate their Neighbours would be too shameless an Acknowledgment of their own baseness and might also overthrow those Artifices by which such Men commonly work their Revenge For which they strain their Wits to find out plausible Pretences for the visible Effects of
God if no vain Glory or desire of humane Praise were intermixed therewith but the sole Design was the Advancement and Vindication of the Divine Glory For far be it from us to censure or condemn of Rashness all those noble ancient Martyrs who without any Force confessed the Faith of Christ at the Heathen Tribunals and thereby drew upon themselves Torments and Death that they might give an Example of Constancy to less couragious Christians who could not otherwise withstand the force of Persecution It was found by Experience that such generous Examples did more effectually raise the Courage of other Christians labouring under Persecution than the Sense of their Duty or the hope of all those glorious Rewards proposed by Christ to those who should suffer for his Name And to justifie this proceeding in such extraordinary Cases St Paul himself as we read Acts XXI had resolved to go up to Jerusalem and continued his Resolution although it was foretold to him by Agabus and other Prophets and himself knew by the Spirit that Bonds and Imprisonment did abide him that he should there suffer a grievous Persecution Nor is this the only Case wherein it may be lawful or commendable to perform good Works publickly and with this Design that they may be seen of Men. Many other such Cases may be found I will instance but in two Pennance and Charity As for the first the Practice of publick Pennance it must be confessed by all who know the State of the ancient and present times of Christianity that the use of it was then the great Preserver of unfeigned Piety among Christians and that the Discontinuance of it now is the chief Cause of the want and coldness of Religion in our times They very well knew formerly as well as we do now that God chiefly regardeth inward Repentance the Contrition of the Soul That Admonition of our Saviour was then as well as now contained in the Gospel But thou when thou fastest anoint thy Head and wash thy Face that thou appear not unto Men to fast but unto thy Father which is in Heaven where what is said of Fasting may be applied to all other Acts and Indications of Repentance Yet the infinite Benefit which the Church received from the publick performance of Pennance required the Institution and the great Advancement of the Glory of God which arose from thence justified the Practice of it Then was Religion and Piety maintained in its full Vigour when Persons guilty of any scandalous Crimes however eminent by Birth or Station were put to open Pennance secluded from the rest of the Faithful placed by themselves in a separate part of the Church and there appearing in Sackcloath or other penitential Dress begged the Pardon of God with Tears and desired Reconciliation and this not only for many days but oftimes for many years together Such Discipline could not but produce in the Minds of all Christians who beheld it an exceeding dread of Sin and Caution in abstaining from such Scandals as would certainly draw upon them either a total Separation from the Church and the Hopes of Salvation or the necessity of undergoing the same Severities The sight of those Penitents was more instructive to ordinary Christians than all the most elaborate Invectives against Sin or Exhortations to Repentance representing to them at once the Guilt the Horror the Shame and the Punishment of Sin Nor was their Repentance to be accounted less real or internal because attended with such outward Professions rather these gave an evident Argument of the reality and sincerity of their Repentance since to take away the Guilt and remove the Scandal of their Sin and reconcile themselves to God and his Church they refused not to undergo the long and strict Severities of publick Pennance and which of all things is most repugnant to the Inclinations of humane Nature to put themselves to open Shame In like manner however ordinarily speaking Charity ought to be done in secret and our Lord hath largely warned us To take heed lest we do our Alms before Men to be seen of them that is for this only Reason that we may be seen and praised by them yet if we do our Alms before Men that they may see them and by seeing them may be excited either to glorifie God or to practice the like Charity then it is not only lawful not only secureth the Rewards promised to Charity but also becometh of excellent advantage to the Church and the Honour of God and entitleth to the Rewards due to the Propagation of Religion and the Divine Glory However it might be in ancient Times or former Ages when almost all Christians exercised Charity even to profuseness certainly in our Age which is chiefly deficient in the practice of this Duty it would be a noble Undertaking in any to restore the Practice of it by the Lustre of any eminent and publick Example And although very great Rewards be promised to secret Charity it is not to be doubted but that to publick Charity exercised in such Cases much greater are reserved if it be not corrupted with any mixture of vain Glory or ignoble Designs because such hath not only all the Effects of secret Charity in relieving the Wants of others but farther also contributeth very much to the Honour of God the common good of the Church and the Edification of other Men. In all these and other like Cases the advantage produced thereby to the Church consists not so much in exciting others by the force of Example to the Imitation and Practice of the same good Works although that be very great as in the Conviction of the truth of Christianity which it invincibly formeth in the Minds of Men. To Persons of ordinary Capacities and Knowledge such as constitute the far greater part of the Church there can be no more certain Argument of the Truth of that Religion which they profess than that the same is professed by so great a number of eminent and excellent Persons If they believe the Profession of others to be sincere and real themselves will Assent without any Scruple if they suspect their reality themselves will be tempted to Infidelity Now the publick and eminent performance of good Works give the only evident Demonstration of the sincerity of the perswasion of other Men since in a Countrey where any Religion prevails by Custom and Education a verbal Profession of it may be only the effect of either and not to contradict it may be due only to common Civility But whoever publickly performeth good Works giveth an undeniable Testimony that he doth in earnest believe the Truth of what he professeth and thereby disposing others to the same belief increaseth the number of the Faithful and advanceth the Glory of God performeth the Duty enjoyned in my Text and shall receive the Reward of it Thus much of the End to which exemplary Piety ought to be directed the Glory of God and that this End will really be
without controul dared to reject his Doctrine vilifie his Person and put him to an ignominious Death but now they were to be convinced by uncontestable Proofs from Heaven that his Person was more than Humane his Doctrine Divine and themselves guilty of the most Enormous wickedness in crucifying the Lord of Life The Justice of God the Father had suffered Aspersions in not revenging the Sufferings and rewarding the Labours of his Son But now this was to be cleared and the Jews convinced that neither their Wickedness should pass unpunished nor his Merits unrewarded The Devil had triumphed in his supposed Conquest over Christ and his imagination of having baffled the Design of the Redemption of Mankind by procuring the Author of it to be put to Death but his arrogant Pretensions were henceforth to be checked his Hopes to be defeated his Empire to be dissolved All these Advantages were to flow from the Mission of the Holy Ghost and all these our Lord sums up and Promises in the words of my Text And when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment In which words we may enquire I. In what Sense all these Effects and Advantages are to be ascribed to the Mission of the Holy Ghost II. How far these promised Effects and Advantages of his Mission were performed As to the First the word reproving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in the Text in the Original is taken from judicial Proceedings and signifieth a Confutation of the adverse Party by such Proofs and Testimonies as by an impartial Judge should be allowed to be valid The Office therefore of the Holy Ghost was to be the Paraclet the Advocate of our Saviour upon Earth to plead his Cause to produce these Proofs to urge and propose them to the World There were indeed abundant Proofs before in the Nature of the thing but Proofs are not convictive till laid open declared and proposed This was the Office of the Holy Ghost in this he was to be the Advocate of our Saviour and this he performed by pouring extraordinary Gifts upon the Apostles as on this day which might enable them with Power and Eloquence with Courage and Success to propose those Proofs and convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment They were to be the Instruments of this Reproof this Conviction not only by their Gifts received and Labours performed as upon this day but by all their Miracles Sermons and Preaching performed in the whole Course of their Ministry All these Actions were equally directed to the same end the conviction of the World yet all in vertue of those Abilities which they received upon this day All their Gifts and Labours were solely owing to his power and derived from his Grant their Knowledge to his Inspiration their Courage and Constancy to his Support their Speaking to his Impulse their Miracles to his Power their Success to his Blessing So that all which they performed ought truly and properly to be ascribed to him All the Miracles Actions and Prophesies of their Lord before the Mission of the Holy Ghost all the Miracles and Labours of themselves after it were to contribute to the Conviction of the World but all the Efficacy the Application of this Conviction was to proceed solely from the Abilities conferred on them at the time of his Mission And thus the Holy Ghost continueth his Office of Advocate not only during the Apostles times but in all Ages of the Church since those Gifts which he then began to dispense to the Apostles he still continueth to diffuse to the Faithful and by the Efficacy of these Gifts it is that the Church is maintained the Faithful enlivened the Conviction continued He then convinced the World by the Preaching of the Apostles and he now convinceth it by the Preaching of their Successors acted with the same Spirit and by the reading of the Holy Scriptures written by them through his assistance and direction His Gifts indeed conferred on them were far more eminent because more necessary his Administration of the Church in their time more remarkable because manifesting the Completion of many particular Prophesies of our Saviour Upon which account the Promises of this Text were then more eminently fulfilled And that they were so I come next in Order to consider First then the Holy Ghost by his coming reproved or convinced the World of Sin because they believed not on Christ as it follows in the 9. Verse By the World we are here primarily to understand the Jews who notwithstanding all the mighty Signs and Miracles performed by Christ denied Assent to his Doctrine This disbelief of theirs before the Mission of the Holy Ghost our Saviour in many places seems to excuse and pardon and St. Pet. in the III. of the Acts V. 17. extenuates their crucifying the Lord of Life by their Ignorance Which Plea would have been but trifling had not their Ignorance in some measure been excusable but after the Mission of the Holy Spirit to stand out against those manifold Convictions that were then offer'd could be no other than an inexcusable Perverseness and Incredulity Of this we may assign two several Reasons First that although our Lord had in his own Person performed many and those stupendious Miracles yet these affected no other than the Spectators of them For while alive he never blazoned abroad his Miracles nor employed his Disciples in spreading the Report and testifying the Truth of them So that however many particular Persons who were Eye-witnesses of his Miracles could not but be abundantly convinced of his Divinity yet the universal Conviction of the whole Nation of the Jews was to be reserved to the Mission of the Holy Ghost When the Apostles were to be endued with Courage and Power from on high to proclaim his Actions and Doctrines to all Men and if need were to assert the Truth of them by other no less extraordinary Miracles Secondly the chief Note affixed by God whereby to judge of the Truth of any Prophet and particularly of the Messias was the Completion of his Prophesies Thus in Deut. XVIII when Moses assureth the Children of Israel That God should raise them up in the latter days a Prophet like unto himself whom they should be obliged to hear in all things he gives them this Token whereby to judge between the true and any false Messias If the Predictions of him who took upon him the Name and Character of the Messias did really come to pass then they should acknowledge him to be the true Messias The most eminent and almost only Predictions of our Lord which could serve as Signs of this nature to the Jews of that Age were the Mission of the Holy Ghost the Resurrection of himself after three days Imprisonment in the Grave and the Final destruction of Jerusalem before that Generation should pass away The first was happily accomplished upon this day when the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
were poured out upon the Apostles in so illustrious a manner as the Jews could not but take notice of the exact Completion of his Promise of sending the Comforter not many days after his Ascension in such a manner as drew the eyes of all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem both Jews and Strangers upon them and tended no less to demonstrate the Power than the Truth of Christ. The second Prediction indeed that of his Resurrection was fulfilled fifty days before but became not an Argument of Conviction to the Jews till now as being not till now publickly attested by the Apostles who were the Witnesses of it The Report of his Resurrection had been indeed rumoured in Jerusalem which put the Sanhedrim upon that shameful Device of corrupting the Soldiers who guarded his Sepulchre but the certain and publick Knowledge of it was not delivered till the Apostles were enabled and enboldened to proclaim and testifie it to the whole World by those Gifts which they received upon this day After the exact Completion of these Prophesies and the authentick attestation of them no excuse remained to the Jews whereby to extenuate their unbelief according to the Rules laid down by Moses they were now obliged to acknowledge Christ to have been a true Prophet and the true Messias and were convinced of their hainous Sin before commited by them in the Rejection of his Doctrine and Crucifixion of his Person the horror of which Sin might induce them the more readily to believe in Christ and lay hold of his Merits that so they might obtain Remission of it Otherwise they were to expect the most severe Execution of Divine Vengeance for their wilful obstinacy and disbelief as Moses had assured them in the same place Deut. XVIII 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him This Sentence and therein the Prophesie of Christ was in a most eminent manner executed and fulfilled in the Destruction and intire Desolation of the whole Nation of the Jews about forty years after the Ascension of our Lord whereby the Apostles and Disciples of our Lord then alive acted by the Holy Ghost were farther enabled invincibly to plead his Cause against the opposition of the unbelieving World both Jews and Gentiles For however the Mission of the Holy Ghost and the Consequences of it did more especially convince of Sin the Jews who were then alive and had been guilty either of rejecting the Preaching or contriving the Death of our Lord yet it contributed no less effectually to manifest the Unreasonableness of all both Jews and Gentiles who either in that or in all Ages to come should reject the Faith of Christ when proposed to them For the Belief of him was to be proposed to all Creatures under Heaven and confirmed by Arguments drawn from hence which were so rational and convictive so clear and demonstrative that they could not be rejected without the most extream Perverseness and if rejected the Holy Ghost should hereby plead the cause of Christ against them and convince the whole World and their own Consciences also if rightly judging that in rejecting the Gospel they had sinned against their own Souls and that nothing remained to them but a certain fearful Expectation of the fiery Judgment to be most justly inflicted on them The second point of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Righteousness the reason of which is assigned in the 10th Verse Because I go to my Father and ye see me no more The Justice of God had to the eyes of Men been clouded when he permitted his only begotten Son to be delivered up and crucified by wicked Men when he abandoned him to the Rage of his Enemies and rescued him not from the Insults of the Jews by an extraordinary Interposition from Heaven The Majesty of the Deity seemed then to be eclipsed and suffer diminution when subjected to the Contradiction and Affronts of unreasonable Men. Men naturally expect that God should even in this World declare in behalf of oppressed Innocence either by rescuing it from the Malice of its Enemies or taking a severe Revenge upon the Oppressors of it And even Christians who have a better and more certain Knowledge of the Methods of Providence cannot but expect and are allowed so to do that if no Discrimination be made between the Good and the Bad in this life yet at least that it shall be in the next when Innocence shall be crowned with Rewards which shall be enhanced by Patience in Sufferings and Violence chastised with Punishments which shall be so much the sharper if reserved intire to another World if no part of them be inflicted in this This a faithful Christian expects from the Justice of God and this the Scripture assureth them Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess. I. 6. And God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour Heb. VI. 10. If then this Justice may be securely hoped for from God by all the Members of Mankind how much more by the Son of God whose Person was of infinite Dignity his Sufferings fraught with the highest Aggravations of Misery and his Persecutors guilty of the most enormous Wickedness That the Justice of God might be therefore vindicated herein that Sin might no longer triumph and Innocence pass unregarded God exalted his Son to his own right hand seated him in the Heavens gave him Dominion over all things crowned him with glory and worship The knowledge of this was published to the World by the Mission of the Holy Ghost by whose Direction and Assistance the Apostles openly testified the Ascension of their Lord and by which all might be convinced what Place and Power Christ now obtained in Heaven who could showre down such glorious Gifts and Priviledges upon his Followers on Earth These were so many undeniable Testimonies that the Malice of his Enemies was defeated that our Lord was yet alive set above their reach and Insults and not only so but invested with supreme Majesty and Dominion able to protect his Church and punish his Enemies that his former Sufferings had not been then more calamitous than his present State was now glorious that if God had for a time withdrawn in appearance his Favour and Protection from his Humane Nature he had now in recompence exalted it to an eternal Throne in Heaven The last thing of which the Comforter was to reprove or convince the World was of Judgment and that for this reason Ver. 11. Because the prince of this world is judged It is a Principle even of Natural Religion that God is the supreme Judge of the World and that of invisible as well as visible Beings The Devil who is frequently in Scripture called the prince of this world had now for many Ages exercised an
uncontrouled Tyranny in the World He had withdrawn the far greatest part of Mankind from the worship of the true God and caused the worship of himself to become the publick Religion of all Nations except the Jews Even the Jews he had often seduced to Idolatry and Disobedience to the Divine Commands and had newly instigated them to imbrue their hands in the Blood of their Messias All these enormous Crimes this continued Rebellion against God and particularly the last and greatest the Death of Christ did require from the Judge of all the World a severe Punishment which is therefore called Judgment in the Text because a Sentence proceeding from the Rules of Justice This Sentence was to be executed under the Gospel of Christ as we are told above in the XII 31. Now is the judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out The Execution of it was to be performed by the Preaching of the Gospel which should destroy the Powers of Hell free Men from the Captivity of Sin and withdraw the World from the Worship of Devils This to those proud Spirits was the sharpest Punishment which could possibly be inflicted and this was begun by the Mission of the Holy Ghost and carried on and compleated by the Gifts and Graces derived down and continued to the Church from his blessed Influence From the Blessings of this day it was that the Apostles received Abilities and Courage to preach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the Earth to beat down the strong holds of Sin to ruin the power of Satan to turn Men to the Knowledge and Obedience of God From the Continuation of these Blessings the Church hath been always defended from the secret and open Assaults of these infernal Spirits the Governors and Ministers of the Church have been enabled to preach the Truth and discharge their Office successfully and all the Members of the Church have been established in the Faith and supported against all the Temptations of wicked Spirits So eminently did God upon this day exercise Judgment upon the Prince of this World that thenceforward his Kingdom continually decreased his Oracles were silenced his Altars abandoned his Worship relinquished his Disciples diminished until a glorious Church was founded in all parts of the Earth which by a solemn Engagement her Vow in Baptism professeth Enmity unto him Upon all these accounts did the Holy Ghost as a most faithful Advocate at his first Mission plead the Cause of Christ against his Adversaries whether the Devil or the Jews his Persecutors and upon the same accounts doth that blessed Spirit who was promised to remain with the Church till the end of the World and execute the Office of Advocate till the Consummation of all things still continue to plead the Cause of Christ against all his Enemies and that he should do so is highly requisite The Devil still assaults the Church by open Force or secret Temptations and to these the Holy Spirit opposeth his Gifts and Graces Infidels and Hereticks still profess Unbelief to the Doctrines of it and to these he opposeth the same Arguments of Conviction which were before manifested to have proceeded from his Mission All these remain yet in their full force Lastly even in the bosom of the Church among the Professors of Christianity are many to be found against whom it is necessary that the Holy Spirit should still plead the Cause of Christ which they discredit by their Sins and blaspheme by their Lives crucifying afresh the Lord of life and putting him to an open shame In that no less guilty than all those Enemies of Christ which the Holy Ghost at his first Mission was to convince For did the Jews disbelieve the Doctrine of Christ before the undeniable Confirmation added to it in the Mysteries of this day These Men by their Actions proclaim their Unbelief even after the Reception of this Confirmation Did the Spirit of God take so much pains to manifest the unerring Justice of God in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments After all these Men live insensible of either slighting his Rewards and defying his Punishments Did Christ come into the World and die a painful Death Did God exert his Power in so many Miracles Did the Holy Spirit descend as upon this day to put an end to the Empire of the Devil These Men by Perseverance in Sin endeavour to re-establish it in the World and do effectually restore it in their own Souls Justly therefore may this Eternal Advocate implead these Men before the last Tribunal I have conveyed the Knowledge of the true God even to these Sinners I have convinced them of the Truth of the Christian Faith at least they will pretend themselves to have been convinced I have nourished this Knowledge by causing the Holy Scriptures to be writ for their Edification I have endeavoured the Improvement of it by the constant Exhortation of those my Officers which I have settled in the Church I have assisted it by the grant of all necessary Graces as often as desired yet notwithstanding all this they have lived as if they knew not of it much less as if they were convinced of it All my Graces and Sollicitations of them have produced no other effect than to render their Sin the more hainous in that they have wilfully disobeyed my Commands slighted my Directions contemned my Exhortations and stifled my Motions All false Perswasions which might betray them to Sin and Disobedience I have long since corrected If they imagine the Disbelief or which is all one the Neglect of my Doctrines to be no hainous Crime I have long since convinced the World of Sin If they fancy God not to be an unerring and infallible Judge in the Dispensation of Rewards and Punishments I have long ago reproved the World of Righteousness If they pretend the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil to be irresistable I have long since judged the prince of this world taken away his Kingdom and limited his Power These then are the most criminal Enemies of the Name of Christ who being by me convinced of their Duty to obey his Laws refused to perform them who serving under his banner and kindly intreated by him deserted his Service and delivered up themselves to his and their own Enemy from whose Tyranny I had before freed them What then shall we plead in behalf of our selves at that dreadful day Shall we alledge want of Conviction That we pretend not to or if we should the Holy Ghost hath by the Wonders and Benefits of this day effectually confuted that pretence Shall we say that we believed not God to have been in earnest when he allured us with Rewards or threatened us with Punishments That Plea is removed by the Assertion of the Righteousness of God made upon this day Or shall we excuse our selves with want of extraordinary Assistances and Graces of the Holy Spirit enabling us to perform our Duty and overcome
could be no part of a finite Soul It hath its bounds and sphere of Activity fixed to it which if it exceeds it cannot judge without danger of Error and Illusion If we desire to extend our Knowledge to all Things and Objects the desire is unreasonable if we pretend to it the pretence is foolish The limitation of our Nature hath excluded all such Hopes which can be obtained no otherwise than by altering our Nature and raising us from the condition of Finite to Infinite Beings It becomes us to receive with grateful Acknowledgements those Perfections which God hath bestowed on us not to repine that he gave us not better much less be angry that they are not infinite since it is impossible that any Creature should have an infinite Understanding Further the Imperfection of our Knowledge is manifest from Experience The greatest part of Mankind are detained in miserable Ignorance even of plain and sensible Matters A barbarous Indian could never be perswaded of the Truth of many things which by their frequency are not in the least admir'd by us The fabrick of a Watch or the mutual Communication of Thoughts by Writing is no less inconceivable to him than the Mysteries of the Trinity are to us And yet we shou'd by no means allow his Conclusion if he should peremptorily deny the Existence of such things because he cannot conceive them Among us Men who have not improved their Reason by Thought and Study are far more unable to conceive those things which are certainly known by more Learned Men than the latter are to conceive the greatest Mysteries of the Deity And even in these the same Imperfection of Understanding may be discovered For however they may flatter themselves with knowing the Nature of Finite Beings and Causes of visible Effects which indeed are the proper and suitable Objects of Human Understanding yet they must acknowledge their Ignorance in many other things of the same kind and what they do pretend to know in Natural Philosophy others oft-times no less Learned will deny and if themselves now fancy that they know the Truth yet they must confess that they once knew it not or perhaps had different Conceptions of it And then that very improvement of their Knowledge is an undeniable Argument of the Imperfection of it So that if Men should always deny the truth of what they cannot conceive even all natural knowledge would be destroy'd and things most certain would be denied to exist And then surely we cannot but allow a greater distance to be between the infinite Knowledge of God and that of the most learned Man which how far soever improved yet still continueth to be finite than between the most perfect and most imperfect Understandings of any two Men living Secondly The Excellency of the Object may be such that it can never be fully conceived by the understanding of any created Being And such is God of whose Existence altho' we be most certain yet we have no other than an imperfect Idea of his Essence We conceive him indeed to be a most perfect Being but his Perfections we cannot comprehend in one single Idea we are forced to consider them apart and even then obtain the knowledge of them rather by removing all Imperfections from him then by conceiving the Nature of the Perfections themselves And after all many Attributes of God which none deny to be his Attributes and without which the Divine Nature cannot subsist include no less Difficulties than the Doctrine of the Trinity I will instance only in two his independent Existence and his Omnipresence For the first nothing can exist without a cause and since there can be no external cause to God the cause of his Existence must be sought for in himself and that is the infinity of his Nature Now altho' all Men firmly believe that God never received his Existence from any external Cause nor needed to do it since the infinity of his own Nature was a necessary Cause of independent Existence Yet cannot the Soul of Man conceive how any thing should be the cause of it self without being involved in inextricable darkness Again no Man can deny God to be Omnipresent who grants his Existence yet can we not conceive the Presence of God in all places without conceiving at the same time an Extension of parts altho' we be assured that God is an immaterial Being and as such can have no Extention of parts Further not only the infinity of the Subject may exceed our Apprehension but the Spirituality of it altho' finite may confound us in this Life wherein we are so much inured to judge by the report of our Senses that few or none can form a distinct Conception of an immaterial Being All allow the Soul of Man to be such yet the greatest part of Mankind are not able to form any Conception of an immaterial Being and even those who can yet have no other than a very confused Idea of it which consists rather in a Negative Conception of it to wit that it is not material than in any positive Notion of its Immateriality If then things which are on all sides allowed continue to be inconceiveable if we cannot solve the Difficulties arising from many Attributes in God which yet we cannot deny to be in him without denying his Existence at the same time if we be so much at a loss in the Conception of any immaterial Being we ought not to be astonished or scandalized that the Doctrine of the Trinity cannot be fully conceived by us So then since humane Reason cannot by its own Conceptions alone find out and determine all which may relate to the Nature of God the Second Consideration proposed will take place namely That in judging the truth of these Matters we must not consider their Internal Probability so much as their external Motives of Credibility For since we cannot perfectly comprehend the Nature of God many Properties may be in it which we could never discover by the light of Reason nor yet when discovered to us fully conceive them But what we cannot conceive we cannot judge of from internal Arguments which are to be drawn from the Nature and Essence of the subject the perfect knowledge of which being denied to us we cannot form any Arguments from thence It remains therefore that we respect only the external Arguments of its truth and those can be no other than external Revelation We cannot doubt that God fully knoweth his own Nature and that as he is most wise he is most veracious that as he cannot be deceived himself so he cannot deceive us If then we be sufficiently assured that God hath revealed this all scruples ought to cease which is the Apostles Argument in this Case It must be indeed acknowledged that we may be deceived in our belief of a Divine Revelation and that since God cannot affirm any thing which is false it is an invincible Argument against any pretended Revelation this Matter is false
Conviction would be no less unuseful and unsuccessful than are the ordinary means And that will appear either if we reflect on the Reasons which defeat the Success of the ordinary means or the force of those Objections to which both Methods are liable The true Cause which renders the ordinary means unsuccessful is not the want of Evidence but the opposition of it to the Lusts and Passions of Men. It finds no welcome Reception in World because contrary to the Genius the of it it abridgeth the Sensuality the corrupt Desires and inclinations of Mankind A covetous Man will not obey it least he should forgoe the immoderate Love of Riches A carnal Man will not receive it least he be obliged to restrain his admired Enjoyments It forbiddeth Revenge Envy and Malice and therefore Minds possessed with these Vices cannot bear it These are the Impediments which defeat the Efficacy of the Christian Religion they plead more strongly and perswade more effectually than the Arguments which recommend that excellent Religion Few or none who enter into the Consideration of it perceive not the just Motives of its Credibility They acknowledge it reasonable to Assent to it but then comparing the Pleasure of sin forbidden by it with the certainty of those Promises and Threats which are annexed to it they willingly over see and reject the latter that they may not forego the former And while Men act thus against the Dictates of Reason no Evidence of Miracles will be able to reform them If any such were performed for their satisfaction it could have no other Effect than to convince them of the reasonableness and truth of that Religion in Confirmation of which they were wrought and this Conviction is already sufficiently performed by the ordinary means So that in both Cases Reason directs them to embrace and obey this Divine Revelation and if in one Case the direction of reason be rejected it can scarce be hoped that in another it will be admitted For all true Piety and Religion proceeds upon this Principle a Resolution of performing whatsoever Reason shall direct And if this Principle be once violated it is no matter whether the Evidence of Reason be greater or less since the Man is resolved not to obey it any farther than it shall agree with his own Lusts. For Miracles affect the understanding only they reform not the Will of Man They induce him indeed to look up to the Author of them from whom he is to receive direction but remove not those Lusts and Passions which oppose the performance of that Divine Direction The same irregular Desires continue the same Affections possess his Soul and will infallibly render the greatest Evidence of Duty unsuccessful until a firm Resolution be formed by him of performing whatsoever shall appear to be his Duty of submitting to whatsoever Reason shall direct of Assenting to whatsoever it shall recommend And when this Resolution is once formed the ordinary means setled for the Conveyance of Religion will obtain equal Success with any extraordinary methods whatsoever since even in that sufficient Evidence may be found to convince Mankind of the truth of it and therefore Reason directs and requires Obedience and Assent to it No wonder then that the Jews even under the Government of Moses while they enjoyed the sight of frequent Miracles nay for Forty years together were fed by a constant Miracle continued still no less disobedient made frequent Apostacies from God rebelled against his Prophet by whose Ministration those Miracles were performed and could never be brought to any tolerable sense or practice of Religion In departing out of Egypt they had not left their vicious Inclinations behind them but retained the same Sensuality and Perverseness of mind In which Case it was not possible that the clearest Demonstration of Divine Revelation could make any impression on them It was all one whether God wrought one or ten thousand Miracles for their satisfaction since one alone might convince them and all together could do no more as a blind Man receives no more advantage from the light of the Sun than from a single Star Our Lord indeed saith in Matth. XI 21. That if the mighty works which were done in Bethsaida among the Jews had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But this may well be supposed to have been said rather to exaggerate the Impenitence and Perverseness of the Jews than to declare what would have been the certain Event if those Miracles had really been performed in Tyre and Sidon Besides the Case was infinitely different between the Jews and the Tyrians The former had a standing Rule of Faith whereby to receive the Knowledge of the Will of God in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets the others wanted that advantage The Tradition of the first Patriarchs whence they also descended had been worn out by a long Succession of time and the Notions of natural Religion had been defaced by long disuse so that Miracles were even necessary to supply that defect and restore the Knowledge of true Religion among them and had they seen the mighty works of the blessed Jesus it is not improbable but that they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes Farther if we consider the common Objections to which the ordinary method of conveying Religion long since setled without Miracles and the extraordinary method by Miracles are subject we shall find them equal on both sides The general Objection against the ordinary method is the want of absolute Demonstration and even altho' Miracles should be always continu'd that still would be wanting Men desirous to retain their Vices in Contradiction to the Precepts of Religion would still alledge That those Miracles were no other than Illusions that their Senses deceived them or were imposed on by Tricks and Impostures Particularly that sort of method which the rich Man in the Text desired might be employed for the Conversion of his Brethren would be of all others the most exceptionable I mean the Apparition of the Spirits of deceased Men assuring the living of the reality of another Life It would be impossible to form Rules whereby to distinguish true from imaginary Apparitions the appearance of humane Souls from Illusion of evil Spirits Or if such Rules could be formed Men could never be assured of the Truth of what they should reveal since the Souls of Men put not off their Vices with the Body and may still retain such Sins as may be Exercised without the assistance of corporeal Organs such as Envy Malice Lying and Fraud Or if all these Difficulties were removed the Terror and Affrightment attending such Apparitions would infallibly hinder all clear Perception either of the reality of the Apparition or of the Matters revealed in it If then there be any here as it is a Prejudice common to many Christians who imagines that if he had lived in the time of Christ and his Apostles and had seen with
the Aids and Difficulties of Christianity to be equal I wish I could add that the Effects were also equal And as we admire the Wisdom of God herein so must we acknowledge his Justice also It may perhaps seem too severe that Salvation the supreme Happiness of Man should be rendred thus difficult to him that God should invite us to it and then by so many Difficulties exclude us from it To this it is easie to reply that Salvation is purely the Gift of God which as such he might bestow upon whatsoever Conditions himself pleased Nor in requiring so many such laborious and difficult Duties of us hath he raised the Price I mean the Conditions above the worth of it It is the supreme end of Man the utmost Improvement of his Felicity Now look into the Writings of all Philosophers consult the common Voice of Mankind they do all confess that the supreme end of Man not only ought to be his chief Design but also can be obtained at no less Expence than his utmost Diligence the constant and most exquisite Operations of all the Faculties of his Mind that it must be the business of his whole Life Look into your own Actions and daily Experience and see whether any thing desirable in this Life even as your selves value it be not attended with a proportionable Difficulty And then Confess that God hath done no more than what the Nature of things required when he annexed so many Difficulties to the Acquisition of Salvation The second Part of my proposed Design I mean the Consequence raised in the Text If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear is so evident that I need say little to it For if after the Conquest of so many Difficulties so many Afflictions endured and Labours employed a righteous Man doth but very hardly obtain Salvation surely no hopes can be left for him who affrighted by these Difficulties gives himself to the Conduct of his own unruly Lusts to the practice of Vices directly contrary to the means proposed to obtain this ultimate Happiness This Reason assureth and the common Notions of the Divine Justice confirmeth to us not only that the ungodly and the Sinner shall miss of that excellent Reward which shall be rendred to the Labour and Diligence of the Righteous but also shall draw upon himself the Wrath of God and the consequence of it extreme Misery in Punishment of his Sin Which is more clearly expressed in the Proverbs XI 31. from whence these words of St. Peter are word for word taken according to the Septuagint Translation But in the Original according to our Translation they run thus Behold the righteous shall be recompenced in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner That is since God suffers not the failings of the Righteous to pass unpunished but corrects and chastiseth them in this World with sensible Afflictions much more hath he reserved the extremity of Torment for the wicked and the sinner As in this place of St. Peter God thought fit to chastise the former Sins of the convert Christians with a fierce and terrible Persecution from whence the Apostle draweth a like Consequence in the 17th Verse And if judgment first begin at the house of God what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And as the Doctrine so the Examples also of the Old and New Testament agree herein Wherein we find that God inflicted temporal Calamities upon his most beloved Servants in Punishment of their Sins even of inadvertency that he might teach us not to expect any Pardon for a wilful obstinacy and continuance in Impiety Thus Moses who had this Testimony from God himself that he was faithful in all his house yet for some slight appearance only of distrust of the Divine Power in bringing forth waters out of the Rock was excluded the Enjoyment of the Promised Land altho' an ancient Writer aggravates the sin of Moses from hence that in all that frequent and familiar Converse which he afterwards had with God he is never found to have begged Pardon for his Sin But however that be we must all Confess that the best of us have far exceeded Moses both in the number and the weight of our sins and ought therefore much more to fear the Execution of the Divine Justice Afterwards we read that God proposed to David the Man after his own heart the choice of three Signal Calamities only in Punishment of a light Vain-Glory manifested in his Design of numbring his Subjects For the same failure he threatned good King Hezekiah with the deprivation and carrying away of his Treasures and sent the great Apostle St. Paul a thorn in the flesh some bodily Infirmity the Messenger of Satan to buffet him And if God excused not these great and excellent Persons from Punishment for such small Offences with what reason can we promise Impunity to our selves Do we Fancy our selves more dear to God or more righteous than they were Surely no. Rather if they were not saved without some Difficulty we shall not without the most extreme hazard and this altho' we did with earnest Study and sincere Endeavours apply our selves to attain Salvation altho' we were worthy which be it far from us to arrogate to our selves to be ranged among those who in the Text are call'd Righteous But of the ungodly and the sinners what shall I say But that if the Righteous scarcely be admitted to Mercy they are wholly excluded from it To them as the Author to the Hebrews saith Chapter X. 27. There remaineth only a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation Yet we find that the most profligate Christians do flatter themselves with the hopes of Salvation and upon Confidence of it proceed securely in a vicious Course of Life For I am perswaded that there are very few Christians who are not convinced of the truth of the Religion they profess whensoever they give their Minds leave to reflect upon it Only they put the Thoughts of it far from them and whensoever either the workings of their own Minds or the admonition of others represent to them the Obligation of it they render both unsuccessful through a vain Hope which they took up upon they know not what Reasons that they are in the number of the saved To this foolish Perswasion many Causes may contribute a constant and happy Success in the World too great an Opinion of the Endowments either of Body or Mind or whatsoever may raise in Man a Conceit of his own worth a strong Imagination a false Notion of the Mercy and the Justice of God or an unhappy illusion derived from the Teachers of absolute Predestination All these and many other Causes may contribute to this fatal Error notwithstanding the Scripture hath particularly provided against it notwithstanding the meanest Capacity cannot but conclude that if God taketh so severe an account of the Actions of the
Death of his Brother and Herod sought the Death of John the Baptist for reprehending his incestuous Marriage yet this we may be assured of as Revenge can never be formed in the Mind without precedent Malice and subsequent Envy of the others out-living altho' but for one moment the Execution of his Revenge so neither can Malice or Envy take place without a desire of Revenge And then as in all other Sins so in this also the Guilt of it consists not so much in the Execution of it as in the precedent Approbation of it by the Will and becomes not the less because not put in Execution And as all other Sins are proposed to the Will under some specious Pretence so Revenge assumeth the shew of Justice and therein chiefly makes good the Charge which we before mentioned of incroaching upon the Prerogative and Authority of God It is indeed a plausible Plea to pretend that Justice must be strictly observed in the World that it is not fit the least Injury of Men should pass unpunished that they ought to expiate the Guilt of their Injury by a proportionable Punishment that otherwise the Peace of the World cannot be maintained and good Men will be always exposed to the Insults and Oppression of others Upon this ground and with these Pretences Men take upon them the Office of a Supreme Judge they will needs determine the quantity of every Man's demerits and inflict a Punishment upon it This Arrogance is visible in every Act of Revenge where the Person revenging proposeth to himself to punish the Malice of the Offender not only to secure his own safety for while it proceeds no farther it is not Revenge but also to procure such a Punishment to the other as may compensate for the Flagitiousness of the Injury which he hath committed And herein chiefly consists the Offence of a revengeful Mind against God for as it is an Offence against our Neighbour I do not now consider it this constituteth the Guilt of it that it invadeth the Office of the Supreme Judge which belongeth to God alone And upon this is founded the Reason brought against Revenge by the Apostle in the Text Avenge not your selves but rather give place unto Wrath await the Execution of the Divine Wrath upon all Sinners For it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. In which words God taketh the Execution of Revenge from Men in the former part of them and in the latter part appropriates it to himself I will consider both together for that the same Reasons which forbid the Exercise of Revenge to Man affix it to God and for this very Cause it is unlawful to Man because it belongeth solely to God To pass Judgment upon the demerits of every sinful Action to determine the quantity of the Guilt and affix a proper Punishment to it belongs only to the Supreme Judge of the World which Office is invested in God as being the Creator of all things living and the absolute Lord of the World which when he had formed he quitted not to the blind Operations of Chance nor to the Disposition of inferior Spirits nor yet to the unruly Wills of Men but retained the Government in his own hand reserved to himself the distribution of Rewards and Punishments upon which account he is called the Judge of all the Earth Gen. XVIII 25. One part of this Office of Judge is to execute Vengeance upon Sinners for which Reason he is called the God of Vengeance more than once in the Ninth Psalm The Execution of his just Sentence upon Sinners is termed Revenge and Sinners the object of it are called his Adversaries as Deut. XXXII 43. He will render Vengeance to his Adversaries and in many other places of Scripture To teach us that he claims that Office to himself and that he alone is capable of recompencing in due manner the Guilt of every injurious Act and all Sins are such to him He is the Supreme Lord of all and therefore hath a full Right to judge his Creatures he is the common Lord of all and therefore cannot be suspected of partiality His Justice will not suffer any Sin to escape unpunished He is merciful and far from punishing Offences beyond their Merit chastiseth Sinners less than they deserve He searcheth the Conscience of every Man cannot be deceived by false Representations nor be drawn aside by Passion or Prejudice He knoweth exactly the true demerit of every Sin and can unerringly Proportion the Punishment to the Crime He hath promised in a peculiar manner to revenge the Injuries done to his faithful Servants and by a positive Precept hath taken Revenge out of the hands of Men. If after all this Men will presume to intermeddle in the Cause of Revenge and pretend to punish the Pravity of any Action they manifestly usurp the Office of God and place themselves in his Seat of Judicature An attempt which he will not so easily pardon who as he saith of himself is jealous of his Honour and will not give his Glory to another Nor indeed can such Revenge be executed without pretending to that Supreme Power which is invested in God For not to say that this were to refuse Obedience to his Commands and therein to renounce his Government who hath commanded the contrary to pass by that to revenge an Injury must suppose an absolute Subjection of the Person on whom the Revenge is to be inflicted For after every Man hath used the Priviledges of Self-defence in opposition to the other he hath no more Right left of acting any against him The Punishment of the others injurious Malice belongeth not to him unless the absolute Subjection of the other gives him just Title to it And in this Case it is not sufficient that the Body of the one should be subject to the other for that doth often happen but the Cognizance of the secret Actions of the Soul must also belong to him who judgeth of the demerits of the Fact otherwise it will be impossible to determine how much or how little Malice the Injury included in it Whereas in this respect no Man is subject to another we are all equally Fellow-Servants to God And then the Expostulation of the Apostle will take place Who art thou that judgest another Mans servant to his own Master he either standeth or falleth This cannot be done without assuming the Authority of the Master and this is certainly done as often as Revenge is intended or effected But not only upon this account are we injurious to the Majesty of God inasmuch as we are all Fellow-Creatures and the works of his hands if we take Revenge and in that make our selves Judges of such our Fellow-Servants but in that while we all equally hope for Pardon from the hands of God our common Judge we deny it to one another and presume to require that from God which we will not Grant our selves If in pleading for Revenge we alledge that
another hath injured us and are not we in every Sin injurious to God Thy Fellow-Servant hath perhaps injured thee once or twice but thou hast injured God the Lord of both very often perhaps every day of thy Life and then what equality is there between injuring a Fellow-Servant and a Master He perhaps was provoked nay first injured by thee before he committed any Acts of Hatred or Malice against thee But thou hast offended thy Lord from whom thou never receivedst any Injuries by whom thou hast been obliged with the greatest Benefits by whose Favour thou livest and from whom thou expectest all that can make thee Happy Consider that if God should examine strictly and immediately revenge all thy Offences against him thou hast not one day to live For if thou Lord shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it So said a better Man than thou art and much more must thou confess if thou either dissemblest not with others or deceivest not thy self For to pass by all those secret Sins which are known only to every Man's Conscience and have no witness but God alone if we should be required to give an account of those open and manifest ones which we daily commit what Pardon could we expect If God should take a severe Account of our Negligence and want of attention in Prayer of all the idle Speeches proceeding from our Mouth and the rash Judgments which we make and such other Sins and Inadvertencies committed but in any one day we should have just Reason to despair of Pardon But if he ransacks our Souls and brings forth into Judgment all the secret Sins of it the evil Desires and unclean Thoughts the unlawful Motions and vain Imaginations we should then have no hope left And if the Sins of one day bring inevitable Destruction upon us without the Mercy and the Pardon of God what an Abyss of Mercy will the Sins of a whole Life require Yet all these Sins he condescends to pardon all this Mercy he extends to Man with this single Condition that he pardon the Offences of his Fellow-Christian For this is an Argument against Revenge peculiar to the Christian Religion To the Jews the Promises of Divine Pardon were neither so full nor so clear and therefore God in giving Laws to them thought it convenient to wink at their exercise of Revenge in some Cases I will not reckon as such that Law of giving an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth For however it was afterwards most grosly mis-interpreted by the Jews it included not any thing of Revenge in the first Institution and Design of it But certainly that Law cannot be excused from Revenge which alloweth to the Kindred of any Man slain unadvisedly to retaliate his Death upon the Author of it if they overtook him before he entred into any City of refuge It is our Happiness that as we have a better Religion and greater Promises so we have stronger Arguments to perswade us to our Duty And in this Case he who gave us both hath forbidden the Execution of Revenge to us and appropriated it to himself So that not only upon account of the Nature of the thing but also of the Divine Command Revenge is made injurious to God and unlawful to us Further not only do we want that Authority which Revenge pre-supposeth not only are we precluded by the express Prohibition of God but we also want other qualifications absolutely necessary to us before it be convenient that we be intrusted with the Execution of Revenge I will instance but in two First Knowledge of the true Guilt of the Crime which we would revenge It must be acknowledged that the Merits of a Cause ought to be known before any Judgment be passed on it In Humane Judicatures the Peace of the World and Interest of publick Societies require that probable Evidence be accepted that Judgment be given according to the appearance of things But if Men pretend to judge the Consciences of others to define the Hainousness of the Guilt of their Offences and to execute the Punishment upon it which is the Proper work of Revenge they ought exactly to know the most private thoughts of the Soul by what steps and arguments the Will was induced to commit that Injury what Judgment the Understanding formed of it when it was committed Otherwise Men may grosly mistake they may Judge that to be an Injury which was intended by the other for a Kindness in which Case there is rather Merit than Guilt in the Offender And if his intended Benefit doth really turn to the Detriment of the other it will be a misfortune to them both yet the Merit of the Benefit ought not to be esteemed less Thus a passionate Revenge may be employed against its own Benefactors and inverting the Course of Justice punish the Well-doers In other Cases Men may interpret Acts of inadvertency to proceed from a formed Malice and punish what is indeed but a venial Injury as a Mortal offence They may prosecute the Execution of revenge even after the other hath repented of the Injury in his mind and resolved if possible to make Reparation for it and thereby hath expiated the guilt of the Offence In all these and many other Cases Men may err most grosly in passing their Judgment upon the enormity of Injuries offered to them which must be supposed to precede all Revenge And how dangerous such Errors are our Lord acquaints us when he assureth us Matth. VII 2. With what Judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again This Reason makes it impossible for Man to execute Revenge aright if it should be permitted to him and dangerous to be desired and for this Reason it ought to be taken out of the hands of Man and be committed to him alone who is the Searcher of all Spirits Again if it were possible for Man to form a right Judgment of the guilt of every Offence and the quantity of the Punishment to be inflicted he would still commit fatal Miscarriages in the Execution of it His Passions are so violent that he would far exceed the Limits of the prescribed Punishment add weight and sharpness to it in Complyance with his own Hatred and imagine that his Anger ought to be indulged therein Nay I fear that in all Cases of Revenge it will be found that the Punishment is inflicted not out of abhorrence to the sin committed but out of Malice and Hatred to the Person of the other not to reform the irregularity of the other but to gratifie his own Passion not to oppose sin but to harm a supposed Enemy And thus not only the Danger of incurring the guilt of Injustice Hatred and Malice would ensue but also the Peace of the World would be wholly over-turned Mankind would be involved in continual War while he who were first injured carried his Revenge beyond the
their secret Malice assigning the Cause of all to be their Love of Justice of their Religion or of their Countrey And such is the Credulity of Mankind that these Pretences seldom want Success covering the Malice and Rancor of a canker'd Soul and giving the most easie and secure Opportunities of Revenge All are apt to censure and condemn Revenge when proceeding from the Principle of false Honour which was before mentioned because the Motive of it is not and cannot be dissembled yet in Truth this sort of Revenge is infinitely less Criminal than the former arising from Hatred and Malice however dissembled and assuming to it self more specious Names This is formed by a violent Commotion of Mind which lasteth not many hours but that by an hardned Malice which worketh secretly for many years together This is commonly effected in the heat of Blood when the Soul hath scarce time to recollect it self or command the unruly Passions of the Body but that is raised and carried on by deliberate thought and resolution which is the utmost Aggravation that any sin can receive This may sometime fall even upon a good Man who through the heat of Passion and from a violent Indignation of receiving unworthy Injuries may suddenly be betrayed to the Desire or the Execution of Revenge but of the other a good Man can never be guilty since it is impossible that Hatred and Malice which are habitual sins should consist with the least degree of Goodness In all habitual sins the Mind cannot but many times reflect upon its own Diseases and be as often convinced of the unlawfulness of those Vices which it nourisheth The Divine Prohibition of those sins often recurs to the Memory and the Soul cannot but be conscious of her own Diseases yet in spight of all these Considerations the Man resolveth to retain his Hatred and Malice towards others And in this Resolution is encouraged from the Consideration that these sins being close and secret will consist with the pretence of Sanctity and may be serviceable to him in his base Designs against his Neighbours And of this sort are all the sins of Hypocrites fixed and determinate Resolutions of persevering in opposition to the Laws of God and still making use of his glorious Name to carry on private Designs No wonder then that in Scripture the most severe Punishments are still denounced against Hypocrites since theirs are all deliberate sins such as Oppression Covetousness Injustice Lying Slandering Perfidiousness Hatred and Malice all sins of the most enormous Guilt and heightened by this farther Consideration that the specious pretences of Piety Religion and Zeal are made use of to execute the several Designs of them Particularly in the Case of malicious Revenge nothing is more ordinary than to pretend a zealous Concern for the Punishment of Evil doers as if they would supply the defect of the Divine Justice or of the Laws of their Countrey and punish the Guilt of sins for which God hath ordinarily provided no Punishment in this Life reserving it to another Yet oftentimes the sins of others which these Men would pretend to punish are indeed nothing else but opposition to their Humours Fancies and Designs it being in the account of some Men an unpardonable Crime to be of a contrary or another Party to have crossed or opposed a Design of the others altho' never so unreasonable or perhaps to have once performed their Duty without Partiality and corrupt Favour to others when the Laws of their Countrey did require it Certainly if the Guilt of sins is to be measured from the Evil Consequences of them such malicious Revenge will be found the greatest of all sins Being the Cause and occasion of publick Calamites over-turning the Peace and Prosperity of whole Nations and bringing them to Destruction Great and numerous Societies of Men such as this Nation is cannot easily be dissolved without intestine Divisions and such are always the effect of malicious Revenge In this manner we shall find almost all the great Societies of the World to have been broken when they have divided into two or more Parties and those continually practising upon each other under Pretence of preserving the religious or civil Rights of the Countrey against the Invasion of the other and as each prevail employing their Interest and Power not to the upholding of the Religion or Laws but to the ruin or vexation of the others I will not apply this to our own Nation or bring any Instance from our Times least I should be thought to engage in any Party But if we call to mind the History of the Jews we shall find many Examples of such malicious Revenge covered under such specious pretences Thus when the Jewish Magistrates resolved to take away our Saviour's Life they put on a mighty shew of Zeal for the publick Service and accused him to the Roman Governour as an Enemy unto Cesar Although themselves indeed cared so little for Cesar that they had at that very time formed the design of a general Rebellion against him as appeared shortly after And when this Rebellion broke out and the People unanimously attempted to cast off the Roman Yoke and recover their ancient Liberty the most bloody and wicked part of them took upon them the name of Zealots and under pretence of extraordinary Concern for the publick Interest and punishing the secret Favourers and Friends of the Romans murdered or robbed every Man his private Enemy and by this Division made way to the Arms of the Romans who without this advantage could not easily have overcome that populous and resolute Nation These Considerations ought to divert Men from a resolved Prosecution of Revenge and much more those Arguments which might be drawn from the Scope or Design of the Christian Religion might produce this Effect if we could perswade our selves that Men did in earnest believe the Truth of it and submit to it But when almost every Man pleads an Exemption from the Obligation of it in all Commands which oppose his peculiar Passions when little beside the Pretence of it is left among us and even that pretence continued not out of any Reverence to Religion but because it is serviceable to Secular and mean Designs we cannot but despair of prevailing with the greater part of Men therein However we must declare that nothing is more contrary to the Spirit and Design of Christianity than to study Revenge to continue Hatred and Animosity without end and never to forget and forgive an Injury Such a Conduct is directly opposite to the Doctrine and Example of our Lord and however covered with specious Colours of wonderful Zeal or Purity or Affection to any Party will be no less damnable in a Christian than Idolatry in a Heathen Lastly If neither the Reason of the thing nor the Divine Prohibition nor the regard of publick Security concerned therein nor the direct opposition of Christianity to it can draw Men from the Love of Revenge yet at
light and example to the unbelieving World and in so doing performeth the Duty prescribed in this place and entituleth himself to the Reward of it Whereas every one deviating from this Rule and violating the Laws of Christ concerning moral or religious Actions becometh a Spot in this light an Exception to the Plea of the Church against Unbelievers He defeateth one of the chief Advantages which Christ proposed to produce in founding of a Church and thereby becomes Guilty not only of the miscarriage of his own Soul but also of the miscarriage of all those Infidels or prophane Persons who miscarried for want of discovering that Exemplariness in the Church which was to have convinced them If the Institution of Christ herein be in these latter Ages in a great measure defeated and no such frequent or sincere Effects of Conversion be to be found it may well be resolved into this Cause that by the disobedience and vicious Lives of the greater number of the Members of the Church this once glorious Light is well nigh covered with Spots and almost turned into Darkness This Luminary of the Church never indeed was without Spots even in its greatest Vigour and Purity in the beginning of the Gospel but while the number of them was inconsiderable in Comparison of those who performed their Duty the Diminution of Light which arose from thence was scarce discernible In succeeding times as the number of wicked Christians increased the Light proportionably diminished until our days wherein the State of the first times of Christianity is so far inverted that the number of pious Christians is very small in respect of the others and thereby the Light of the Church is almost extinguished Whosoever then addeth to this remaining Light by his own single Piety doth the greater Service and whoever detracts from it by his ill Example doth the greater Mischief because every Addition and Diminution is more sensible in a less than a greater quantity of Light Thus all Christians may become Exemplar in conspiring to complete the Example of the Church to those who are without it For not every one is fitted in particular and singly to make himself an Example to other Men. Many things must concur to that which oftimes are not in the Power of Man The minds of other Men on whom his Example must be supposed to have any influence must be first possessed with an opinion of his Wisdom or Authority or any other Quality which may induce others to follow his Example And where such Qualities are found the Obligation of being Exemplar becomes much more strict In that Case he is not only to Act in common as a Member of the Church but in particular also as a Director of all those who may be influenced by his Example Such are Parents to their Children Masters to their Servants great Men to their Inferiors Kings to their Subjects wise and learned Men to those who have an Opinion of their Wisdom and Learning All such are as Lights to those subjected to them whose Eyes are fixed on them and are wont to form Directions to themselves from their Practice And this is what God particularly requires of great and knowing Men in return for their Power and Wisdom that they employ it for the Instruction or Perswasion of others in the discharge of their Duties their Power and their Knowledge hath distinguished them from the rest of Men and set them in an eminent Station at least in respect of those who are subjected or inferior to them and therefore every Action of them hath some influence but ordinarily every Habit fixeth even a Rule to the Conduct of Inferiors of whom the most part look no farther than to the demeanour of those whom they suppose in Power or Knowledge to excel themselves If they observe no Rules of Order and Decency these cannot so much as know them If they practise forbidden Pleasures or give way to unlawful Passions these will lose even all Sense of the unlawfulness of them They will not be ashamed to practise what they see their Superiors the supposed Judges of Decency and Lawfulness without fear to pursue If they conscientiously observe the Precepts of Religion even respect to their Persons will engage others in the same Course of Piety as being generally perswaded that those who are greater and wiser than themselves are more enabled to discover the means of attaining true Happiness Thus every good Man fitted by the Opinion of others concerning him for being an Example to them becomes a publick Blessing He enters not into Heaven alone but carrieth with him the welcome Attendance of those whom his Example hath drawn thither with him It is not indeed in the Power of all Men to fit themselves for such Exemplars yet most Men are concerned in this as being Superior to some others who are ready to take Rules of Direction from them and not a few are placed in such eminent Stations as derive exceeding influence upon all those who are seated under them And such if careless of their Duty become a Snare and the occasion of Destruction to all those who by their Example were betrayed into Sin They fall not alone but like Lucifer seated on an eminent Throne draw Legions of Apostate Angels with them into Hell for the miscarriage of all whom they will be obliged to answer and cannot plead as do those Sinners who Act in the lowest Sphere that thereby they hurt themselves alone Rather the guilt of so many Souls ruined by their ill Example will be laid to their Charge and be revenged on them It is frequently added in Scripture to the Charge of Jeroboam as the utmost Aggravation of his Crime that he made Israel to sin He was not Guilty of a single Apostacy but drew the whole Nation into Idolatry by his Power and Example We need look no farther than the History of that and other Kings of the Jews to be convinced of the influence of a great Example For as often as those introduced Idolatry or restored true Religion so often did the generality of the People fall into Apostacy or return to the worship of the true God The Reward of those pious Princes will receive infinite increase from the blessed Effects of their Example and the Damnation of the others will be heightened from the infection communicated to others by their wickedness And what Princes are in relation to their Subjects in this matter the same are all Superiors in relation to their Inferiors whether in Authority Riches or Knowledge The Piety of a Master reformeth or his Dissoluteness corrupteth a whole Family The Exemplariness of a rich Man instructeth or his wickedness debaucheth all his poorer Dependants The religious Conduct of a knowing Man corrects or his unwary Behaviour perverts all his Admirers And all such shall certainly receive the reward of the good Effects of their exemplary Piety or if their Conduct be contrary the Punishment of their private Sins will be much